As fans gather in a desperate attempt to save the doomed City of Heroes from its announced closure, DC Universe Online unleashes mystical forces with its latest expansion and Dr. Destroyer's army of Destroid robots rises in Champions Online in celebration of the game's third anniversary.

It's sad to see City of Heroes go. I was right there when the game first launched, madly scrabbling for original character names like Miss Stake, Hightower and The Stonemason. I leapt across the skies of Paragon City, fighting crime and making allies. When City of Villains came along I made one evil character, but soon found myself back on the side of angels, unable to embrace the evil lifestyle.

Champions Online, created by the developers that originally crafted City of Heroes, takes an interesting episodic approach to hero building, one that's done fine by the game for three years. Over the past three years it has thrived, switching to the free-to-play model relatively quickly and drawing in new players in droves.

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Champions Online is now celebrating its third anniversary, rewarding loyal players with fresh new adventures and infographics showing just how well the game has performed.

Meanwhile, in the DC Universe, Dr. Fate and Felix Faust take center stage in the latest downloadable content for the free-to-play game, "Hand of Fate", featuring new legendary characters, challenging quest lines and the introduction of utility belt slots so characters can carry nifty gadgets.

It's a fun game, not quite on par with NCsoft's superhero game, but then with the power and recognition factor of DC's characters it doesn't have to be.

That two other superhero MMOs are doing fine is cold comfort to the disappointed fans of City of Heroes. It's not just the fact that it was their first superhero MMO love. It's that it was the best of them.